Shabbat

November 13, 2024

After the Election: Take Love Seriously. Give Love Wildly.

This was my Dvar Torah last Shabbat, November 9, the first Shabbat after Election Day 2024. First I want to say that the operation of a democracy is awe-inspiring. To experience a day when 300-million-plus people bring something of moral significance to a crescendo all at once. To contemplate what goes into that, philosophically… Continue reading

Current Affairs, Election, Inclusion, Love, Middot, Prayer, Shabbat, USA
March 21, 2024

Purim: The Buddy Film

This was my D’var Torah for Shabbat morning, March 16, 2024, Parashat Pekudei. which fell this year about a week before Purim. It’s already after the Oscars, but I have a pitch for a new movie — it could even be a franchise! It’s about a pair of young friends who travel the world together.… Continue reading

Books, Calendar, Current Affairs, Esther, Film, Friendship, Harry Potter, Holidays, Immigration, Inclusion, Joy, Leadership, Midrash, Movies, Parashat Hashavua, Pekudei, Purim, Shabbat, Synagogue, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Young Jewish Adult, Youth
September 29, 2023

Affordable Housing: A Sukkot Reflection and Charge

This is my D'var Torah for the first day of Sukkot 5784 and Shabbat, September 30, 2023. Sukkot is actually the third part of the High Holy Days. It’s not just Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. Sukkot is the zany but nuanced third festival of our kickoff month of Tishrei. And Sukkot is specifically… Continue reading

Calendar, Current Affairs, Election, Environment, Equality, Ethics, Exodus, Food, High Holidays, Holidays, Housing, Justice, Leadership, Shabbat, Sukkot, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Tzedek, USA, Yamim Noraim
December 5, 2022

Hope, Chanukkah, and the Dreidel

This is one version of a D'var Torah I have given in a few variations at different times, around Chanukkah and even once on Rosh Hashanah! I have only a couple of Chanukkah sermons, and in fact you may have heard me give a version of this in years past and even on a Rosh… Continue reading

Calendar, Chanuka, Chanukkah, Current Affairs, History, Holidays, Hope, Joy, Patience, Prayer, Shabbat, Synagogue, Temple Beth Abraham, Tikkun Olam
September 8, 2022

Best of My Past High Holy Day Sermons

These are to me the best of my Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur sermons from years past. I'm collecting them here because you find them useful to read and think about in Elul. They aren't in chronological or any particular order. Hope In An Uncertain World (5777/2016)What the Chanukkah dreidel can teach us about four… Continue reading

Calendar, Coronavirus, Current Affairs, Election, Ethics, Gratitude, Hakarat Hatov, High Holidays, Hope, Justice, Leadership, Middot, Patience, Ritual, Rosh Hashanah, Shabbat, Teshuvah, Tikkun Olam, Torah, Tzedek, USA, Yamim Noraim, Yom Kippur, Youth
September 7, 2022

Getting From Here to High Holy Days, Starting With a Party!

This is based on what I said on Shabbat morning, August 27, 2022 at the start of the month of Elul. It was the day of a Bar Mitzvah and an aufruf (blessing to a couple about to get married)! Usually I think of Elul as a time of introspection before we get together in… Continue reading

Calendar, Elul, Ethics, Gratitude, Hakarat Hatov, High Holidays, Holidays, Hope, Joy, Prayer, Ritual, Rosh Hashanah, Shabbat, Simcha, Soul, Spirituality, Study, Synagogue, Yamim Noraim, Yom Kippur
March 10, 2022

How to Start Another Pandemic Year: Learning from Leviticus

This is the D'var Torah I gave a year ago in our Torah reading cycle, March 20, 2021. It was by the Torah reading calendar the first reading of the second year of pandemic restrictions. I read it now and so much of how I'm reflecting is the same. When we last checked in at… Continue reading

Calendar, Coronavirus, Current Affairs, Ethics, Parashat Hashavua, Patience, Shabbat, USA, Vayikra
February 1, 2022

Na’aseh V’Nishma Meets Yes-And

This was my D'var Torah on Shabbat morning, Saturday, January 29, on Parashat Mishpatim. When I was trying to decide whether to apply to rabbinical school, as a senior in college, I gave myself an ultimatum: I would not apply until I was putting on tefillin every day. Tefilllin are basically mezuzas but for the… Continue reading

Education, Freedom, Holidays, Jewish Education, Midrash, Mishpatim, Parashat Hashavua, Patience, Prayer, Rabbi, Shabbat, Spirituality, Study, Synagogue, Tefillin, Temple Beth Abraham, Theology
March 15, 2021

A Year in the Desert — Reflections One Year Later

This was my D'var Torah on Saturday, March 13, 2021. Shabbat Ha-Chodesh is the name for the Shabbat that precedes the start of the month when Pesach occurs. These are some of my reflections on the past year of the Covid-19 pandemic; one piece can hardly say it all. Shabbat Ha-Chodesh, this day in the… Continue reading

Calendar, Coronavirus, Current Affairs, Election, Health Care, History, Holidays, Jewish Education, Justice, Leadership, Parashat Hashavua, Pekudei, Prayer, Shabbat, Shabbat Hachodesh, Spirituality, Synagogue, Temple Beth Abraham, Torah, Tzedek, USA, Vayakhel, Web/Tech, Youth
February 4, 2021

Jewish Sources on Electronics and Shabbat

Next week I'm teaching in our synagogue Ritual Committee about issues relating to the use of electronics on Shabbat, particularly in connection with conducting services. Since I'm gathering source material I thought I would post for everyone the raw material from the Conservative movement. There are certain basic concepts of halacha (Jewish law) that are important backdrop: m'lacha… Continue reading

Coronavirus, Current Affairs, Halacha, Shabbat, Study, Talmud, Torah, Web/Tech
January 6, 2020

Daf Yomi Talmud Cycle Begins

(I actually wrote and FB-posted this yesterday.) Today is the start of a 7 1/2-year worldwide Jewish learning activity called "Daf Yomi" or the "Daily Page." In sync, Jews everywhere of all kinds of backgrounds read and think each weekday about the exact same page of the Babylonian Talmud — alone or in study groups… Continue reading

Bavli Berachot, Calendar, Daf Yomi, Food, Jewish Education, Prayer, Shabbat, Spirituality, Study, Talmud
November 4, 2018

After Pittsburgh: A Narrower Bridge, A Net Like Never Before

Here is my D'var Torah from Saturday, Nov. 3, 2018, the Shabbat after the killings at Tree of Life Congregation in Pittsburgh. You can read it or download it as a pdf file here. It is so good to be here together this morning. I know that it is a great comfort to our friends,… Continue reading

Antisemitism, Community Relations, Current Affairs, Freedom, History, Holocaust, Immigration, Inclusion, Interfaith Dialogue, Justice, Leadership, Peace, Rabbi, Shabbat, Terrorism, Tikkun Olam, Tzedek, USA, Yom Hashoah